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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
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ICHNEU'MON, n. [L. from the Gr. to follow the steps, a footstep; a follower of the crocodile.]
An animal of the genus Viverra, or weasel kind. It has a tail tapering to a point, and its toes are distant from each other. It inhabits Egypt, Barbary and India. It destroys the most venomous serpents, and seeks the eggs of the crocodile, digging them out of the sand, eating them and destroying the young. In India and Egypt, this animal is domesticated and kept for destroying rats and mice.
Ichneumon-fly, a genus of flies, of the order of hymenopters, containing several hundred species. These animals have jaws, but no tongue; the antennae have more than thirty joints, and are kept in continual motion. The abdomen is generally petiolated, or joined to the body by a pedicle. These animals are great destroyers of caterpillars, plant-lice and other insects, as the ichneumon is of the eggs and young of the crocodile.
Any
carnivorous mammal of the genus Herpestes, and family
Viverridæ. Numerous species are found in Asia and
Africa. The Egyptian species (H. ichneumon), which ranges to
Spain and Palestine, is noted for destroying the eggs and young of
the crocodile as well as various snakes and lizards, and hence was
considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians. The common species of
India (H. griseus), known as the mongoose, has similar habits
and is often domesticated. It is noted for killing the
cobra.
Any hymenopterous
insect of the family Ichneumonidæ, of which several
thousand species are known, belonging to numerous genera.
* The female deposits her eggs upon, or in, the bodies of other insects, such as caterpillars, plant lice, etc. The larva lives upon the internal tissues of the insect in which it is parasitic, and finally kills it. Hence, many of the species are beneficial to agriculture by destroying noxious insects. Ichneumon fly. See Ichneumon, 2. | ||||||||